Irish society is on the cusp of a profound social and political radicalisation as a result of the catastrophic economic collapse.
The very interesting reports from Iceland by Brian Carroll in the Daily Mail, show how rapidly the social and political outlook of working people can change, in response to profound shocks in the economic system which rock their lives.
Only a few months ago Iceland was considered to be one of the most stable societies in the world, and the fifth richest, on the basis of national income per person. Now 70% of companies and 40% of households are technically bankrupt.
The Icelandic crash was caused by the same greed-fuelled profiteering that has now crashed the Irish economy. The government which presided over it has been driven out while its main component , the conservative Independence Party, faces annihilation as people look for radical alternatives on the Left.
In Ireland the business and political establishment is loudly calling for ‘solidarity’ from workers in meeting the present crisis. What is meant by this is that working people must accept savage attacks on their livelihoods and living standards so that capitalism can survive.
For months large swathes of the corporate media have been involved in a disgusting campaign of abuse of public sector workers. The object is to make nurses, teachers and County Council workers road crews believe that they should be so grateful to be employed, that they should tolerate drastic cuts in their wages. To make them fearful that if they don’t, they will be subject to contempt and vilification from workers in other parts of the economy.
The question is whether Irish workers are as gullible as the establishment believes. They are not.
Working people are asking, where was the campaign for ‘solidarity’ by the business and political establishment over the past 12 years, when profiteering extortion by speculators and developers sent the price of a modest home into the stratosphere and forced young workers, whether public or private sector, into mortgages of forty years duration? When big bankers facilitated this and Government legislated for it? When some newspapers made fortunes from it with property supplements and glamourised the extortion in the process?
In the coming months Irish workers will, just like their counterparts in Iceland, move into open opposition to the current policies dictated by the interests of big business and implemented by their stooges in government.
In recent days we have seen thousands of taxi drivers protesting on the streets as extreme deregulation force them to work nightmarish hours to provide for their families. Dublin bus workers are also protesting in opposition to cuts in services and jobs. Low to middle income civil servants are planning a one day strike in opposition to the savage wage cut proposed for them. And Waterford Crystal workers are continuing an occupation to save jobs.
Currently, there is no coherent leadership to draw together these groups of workers , and working people generally, behind a concerted campaign for an alternative policy. The main trade union leadership is hopelessly compromised after decades of pretending that there was a ‘partnership’ between themselves and the scamming developers and banks. With that illusion shattered, they are utterly devoid of any alternative policy or the courage to fight for it.
The opposition parties in Dail Eireann play weekly charades with the government. Most people understand that if they were in government their policy would be no different.
Therefore a discussion must begin on alternatives. And such a discussion will come quickly up against the limits of what the structures of capitalism can provide. All big business spokespeople – echoed by university professors of economy – can offer, is the current programme of savage cuts in wages and living standards to ‘convince the markets’ and ‘restore competitiveness.’ The same markets whose faceless, unaccountable and unelected puppet masters are responsible for the present disaster in the first place! The same competitiveness which has Dell massacre 1,700 jobs in Limerick because the low wages of the workers in their Limerick factory were not low enough.
Just how low should Irish workers go before the markets and multinational bosses think they will earn sufficient profits? To Polish levels? To Indian or Chinese levels? But then who would be able to buy the products, pay mortgages or pay taxes for public services?
The alternative is production democratically planned and managed to meet society’s needs and providing fundamental security of employment and a dignified life for all in society. Workers protesting against the blunt edge of the Fianna Fail/Green policies may not immediately have a rounded out idea of such an alternative but the discussion that is only beginning, and the actions that will follow from it, will rock the foundations of the establishment leading to far reaching political changes.
By Joe Higgins: from The Daily Mail, February 11, 2009
CHECK OUT OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:
- Greek Financial Crisis – Break the dictatorship of the markets!
- Humiliating Ideological Defeat for Neo Liberal Capitalism
- Joe Higgins: “George Lee – More Spin than Answers”
- EU Commission’s debt proposals confirm argument of anti-Lisbon Treaty campaigners
- Determined fight from unions needed to stop government onslaught
